This invention relates to improvements to ball game apparatus and more particularly to apparatus suitable for practising tennis and other ball games.
Basically, tennis practice away from a tennis court is carried out at present by the use of a practice ball anchored to the ground adjacent the player by an elastic cord or by a player hitting a ball against a practice wall. While the latter provides a return shot which closely simulates actual play, it requires a relatively large area and thus it is impractical for most applications. On the other hand, the practice ball does not provide a return simulating actual play as the speed and rate of play of return shots is too high when the ball is hit with a full swing of the racquet. The ball may be slowed down by hitting it upwards, however, in such a case authentic simulation of flight of the tennis ball is not achieved. Various other arrangements are available for practising tennis such as one wherein the ball is suspended by an elastic cord extending between a pair of poles, but such arrangements are not capable of providing practice for all shots which would be encountered in actual play. Furthermore, such known arrangements tend to become uninteresting and boring in use.